The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall reminded me of Jesus’ first synagogue sermon recorded in Luke:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisonersand recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21.)

I have been watching many documentaries and newsclips about this. It’s fascinating. I don’t remember a lot from those times personally, I was 19 and living in the UK as an au pair, and I didn’t really read and watch the news very much there at the time. (When I did, I understood that something was happening in Berlin, but my English wasn’t up to scratch at the time for me to really get the full picture.)

What strikes me now, 25 years older, a bit more life experience behind me, is that Jesus setting the oppressed free is not the end of the story, though those elated moments of deliriously happy people streaming towards West Berlin is where many documentaries end. The “setting free”‘ bit is just a turning point – and the start of the wonderful and _hard_ work of learning how to live in freedom. When someone has lived in a narrow cage all his/her life, whether it’s the political system of their society or a legalistic interpretation of Scripture, becoming free means facing a whole lot of new choices and responsibilities – both possibilities and potential pitfalls. I’m so thankful that the unification of Germany happened without much bloodshed, but the road has not by been easy for them, either.

Thankfully, when Jesus sets someone free, He is also the Way forward. His free people don’t have to make it on their own.

Well put, Tuija. Your comment could easily have been in the body of the post, because it gets to the point of what I was thinking too. Our freedom in Jesus is more than just an open cell door; it’s a whole new life, and one that gets greater and greater through eternity.